therefore that the Sun has no other way of heating the Earth but by its Light, for Heat always follows Light, so that when its Beams are collected, as in Burning-Glasses for instance, it fires all before it.  Now ’tis Demonstrated in Mathematicks, that the Sun is a Spherical Body, and so is the Earth; and that the Sun is much greater than the Earth; and that part of the Earth which is at all times illuminated by the Sun is above half of it; and that in that half which is illuminated, the Light is most intense in the midst; both because that part is the most remote from Darkness, which is the Circumference of the Circle, as also, because it lies opposite to more parts of the Sun:  and that those parts which are nearest the Circumference of the Circle, have less Light; and so gradually, till the Circumference of the Circle, which encompasses the illuminated part of the Earth, ends in Darkness.

Sec. 2.  Now that is the Center of the Circle of Light, where the Sun is Vertical to the Inhabitants, and then in that place, the Heat is most extreamly intense; and so those Countries are the coldest, where the Sun is farthest from being Vertical.  And if there were any such place where the Sun was always Vertical, it must needs be extream hot.  Now ’tis demonstrated in Astronomy, that the Sun is Vertical twice a Year only, to those which live under the Equinoctial, viz. when he enters into Aries and Libra; and all the rest of the Year he declines from them, six months Northward, and six months Southward; and for that reason they are neither too hot nor too cold, but of a Moderate Temper between both.  There’s much more to be said about this Argument, in order to the explaining it fully, but it is not suitable to our purpose; I have only hinted it to you, because it helps the Story a little, and makes it something more probable that a Man may be form’d without the help of Father and Mother; and there are some which affirm positively that Hai Ebn Yokdhan was so, others deny it, and tell the Story thus: 

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[Illustration 3]

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Sec. 3.  They say, that there lay, not far from this our Island, another Great Island very fertile and well peopled; which was then govern’d by a Prince of a Proud and Jealous Disposition:  he had a Sister of exquisite Beauty, which he confin’d and restrain’d from Marriage, because he could not match her to one suitable to her quality He had a near Relation whose Name was Yokdhan, that courted this Princess, and Married her privately, according to the Rites of Matrimony then in use among them; it was not long before she prov’d with Child, and was brought to Bed of a Son; and being afraid that it should be discovered, she took him in the Evening, and when she had Suckled him she put him into a little Ark which she closed up fast, and so Conveys him to the Sea shore, with some of her Servants